New Valley

The morning was glorious. The big Egyptian sun came up over Luxor and the Nile, and it was beautiful. Thanks Ra, (the sun god), for rejuvenating us after a long travel afternoon yesterday.

We have only one full day here before heading to the Red Sea. The guesthouse that we are staying in is excellent and it is very peaceful here. Birds are singing, donkeys braying, a variety of boats are going down the river and here local people are going about their business in a casual, laidback way. Here, it is a lot quieter and peaceful than in Luxor, which we can see and hear across the river!

The East Bank has a lot to see but the West Bank is where all the main archaeological sites are located. A village on this side, Gourna, was expropriated and villagers were moved when important statues or temples were discovered under their homes. Villagers were using tombs as their septic tanks! I think though that for years the villagers didn’t tell anyone about anything that they found in their backyards. By being moved, they lost their livelihoods, I.e. selling trinkets to foreigners.

We really thought hard about whether we wanted to visit another temple site while we are here. The apartment is so roomy, the terrace is lovely and we are getting lazier. But reading about Medihat Habu, a site not usually seen by tourists, intrigued us. So, we arranged to visit it in the afternoon with Ahmed, the lovely man that has made our stay at the guesthouse so special. While we visited the temple, our laundry was being done.

Ramesses III, who reigned from 1184—1153 BC, was the last of the great pharaohs of Egypt. During his reign, Medinat Habu functioned as a walled city with the temple and an administrative center inside of walls that protected the inhabitants of the area during hard times. Later on, the complex became a walled town for Coptic Christians living in the area.

We decided to use Ahmed as a guide. He was an expert on Egyptian history and was able to explain and answer many questions that we had unanswered during out trip so far. It was the perfect time to get a guide!

Our first impression of the temple was awe. It is in such good condition and imposing. The carvings are exquisite. We entered through a massive stone gate (18 m) that once had huge wooden doors. And I mean it when I say massive.

The complex behind it, the Temples of Ramesses III, has relief carvings depicting the king defeating Egypt’s rivals from Libya and the Sea Peoples and what was done to prisoners (hands and penises were cut off while scribes recorded the numbers). In fact, the whole temple illustrated his warring successes. Etchings in the stones were very deep so that they couldn’t be scraped off without destroying the stone. It would be a permanent record for future generations.

From the two main temples we continued into several holy courtyards with more well-preserved reliefs and columns, many with their coloring still intact, and then leading into a final very sacred hypostyle hall (a room with huge pillars supporting the roof).

We are always amazed by the vibrant colours ( green, red, blue, yellow, white, black ) in the reliefs. How in the world have the colours remained so vibrant? Ahmed didn’t really know but seemed to think that the coloured mineral pigments were rubbed right into the stone.

We were so happy to end the temple part of our trip with Ahmed. He was great!

But it wasn’t quite the last temple… See the following footprint.Read more